Goodyear to close Philippine tyre plant, 500 jobs hit

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Goodyear plans to close its tyre plant in the Philippines by the end of the third quarter, resulting in about 500 job losses, the US-based global tyre maker said on Friday.

The closure of the plant in Las Pinas would remove nearly 2m units of annual production capacity, it said.

"Due to high costs compared to other plants in the region, tyres produced in the Las Pinas plant are not competitive in the marketplace," said Pierre Cohade, president of Goodyear in the Asia-Pacific region.

The move to shut the 53-year old plant was part of the company’s strategy to close uncompetitive manufacturing capacity globally. Goodyear aims to remove 15m-25m units of capacity over the next two years.

In May, it said it would close a tyre plant in France next year, resulting in 820 job losses.

Goodyear, one of the world’s largest tyre firms, produces styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), which is used in the manufacture of tyres. It is a large buyer of butadiene (BD).